1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope. Does the name “du Toit” ring a bell?

1695 – A window tax is imposed in England, causing many householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax. Don’t give the ‘takers’ any ideas! California’s already considering a tax on text messaging, and the only people who HAVE windows are ‘rich’ people, right?

1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

1805 – End of the French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorian calendar like the rest of the civilized world. If you EVER want to see what happens when the Left takes control of government and implements all its “enlightened” ideals, study the French Revolution. Or Detroit.

1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two. Virginia is trying to divide itself again over gun control today.

1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine, and he was granted the patent in 1879. My employer uses many two-stroke natural gas fueled engines to compress gas in our pipeline system.

1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time. 2012 – Incandescent bulbs are essentially outlawed by ignorant legislation. 2019 – President Trump rolls back rules restricting incandescent lamps.

1951 – The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe. Then we stayed there for the next thirty years making sure the commie hordes didn’t come take the place, and they still treat US like crap!

1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world, with all the financial impact of shit-flavored popcorn.

1981 – A coup d’état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann’s PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. Just Africa being Africa.

1983 – In Nigeria a coup d’état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic. Just Africa being Africa.

1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved. See 1951, above.

1998– The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency. And right now, Europe is seriously reconsidering the wisdom of that move…

2007 – The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends as it starts filling itself in…

1066 – Granada massacre: A Muslim mob storms the royal palace spreading the gospel of the Religion of Peace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city. “Religion of Peace”, yeah… Never was before. Isn’t now.

1817 – First coffee planted in Kona, Hawaii. Hawaiian Kona is still a GREAT coffee. Visit Smith Farms if you want to try some REAL Kona, and don’t get fooled by ‘Kona Blend’ from anywhere.

1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest. 29,670 square miles for $10 million. Bought it fair and square. Bite that, Aztlan!

1854 – Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co., first oil company in the US is incorporated in NYC. “Rock Oil” = “petroleum”.

1906 – The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan. Ambitious title, but “all India” didn’t want to be Muslim, not that such feelings have any bearing to radical Muslims…

1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed. That’s good for about seventy years… And the murders of several million of its own people.

1953 – The first ever NTSC color television sets go on sale for about USD at $1,175 each from RCA. “NTSC” stands of “Never The Same Color”. And $1175 was a year’s worth of minimum wage in 1953. Those old color TV’s were finicky and twiddly and a good living could be made servicing them.

1959 – USS George Washington, world’s first ballistic missile sub commissioned, resulting in numerous pants being shat in the Kremlin.

1980 – “Wonderful World of Disney,” last performance on NBC-TV , back when Disney was still VERY patriotic (you old f*rts remember “The Sons of Liberty”?) and very pro-science. Not like today when it’s very “let’s promote a few kiddie acts to the pre-pubescent girl crowd and make lots of money”.

1987 – Premier Mugabe elected president of Zimbabwe. He stepped down in 2018. Under his august leadership Zimbabwe is almost gone, just like America was doing under that Kenyan, Obama. Aaannnndddd here’s comes Joe and Ho.

2006 – Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging. “Justice” would have had him fed into a shredder, feet first.

2009 – The last roll of Kodachrome film is developed by Dwayne’s Photo, the only remaining Kodachrome processor at the time, concluding the film’s 74-year run as a photography icon. “Camera film” goes the way of “Dialing a phone”… And people will have to do research to see what the words to that song mean…

2013 – More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Politics as usual in the Congo.

1170 – Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church. This is about separation of church and state. The ‘state’ had the ‘church’ murdered.

1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened. that’s what the Federal Government thinks it is today. If they don’t change the results are likely to be equally unpleasant.

1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three-hour battle. She is now the only vessel on the Navy’s rolls to have sunk a major warship in combat.

1837 – Steam-powered threshing machine patented in Winthrop, Maine

1845 – Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state. 2035 – New US-Mexican border established at the Trinity River.

1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts. First clients include an Indian chief, a construction worker, a cop, and a cowboy.

1890 – United States soldiers clash with members of the Great Sioux Nation in the Wounded Knee Massacre. “Clash?” Soldiers killed perhaps 200 including women and children.

1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Once out from under these restrictions, Japan builds a great navy. America (mostly) and its allies sink most of it in WW II.

1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed 2 million. They apologized. That makes it okay… They were “imagining” “giving peace a chance” anyway…

2006 – The UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt, freeing up funds so we can help Pakistan sort our the gender question.

1612 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly cataloged it as a fixed star. But hey! The science was settled…

1836 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico. Now, if only Mexico had recognized the independence of Texas, we could have saved us a whole war or two…

1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be commonly known as x-rays.

1908 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000. FEMA slow to respond. Bush widely blamed.

1939 – First flight of the Consolidated XB-24 Liberator bomber prototype. It and the Boeing B-17 were the backbone of US strategic bombing in Europe in WW II. The B-17 was prettier.

1943 – Soviet authorities launch operation Operation Ulussy, beginning the deportation of the Kalmyk nation to Siberia and Central Asia. “We take a brief break from fighting off Germany to further suppress a few of our own people.” Expect President Harris to clear out an area for the establishment of Wakanda here.

1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami, Florida. Cue up the “twilight Zone” theme music. It’s one of those “Bermuda Triangle” mysteries… Or a series of human errors. Depends on which way your mind works…

1973 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States. Nine-banded snorflezorts breathe easier. Tree-hugging hippies now have a federal law to give meaning to their worthless lives.

1981 – The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia. Yawwwnnnnn! Call me when a government welfare check is a contact birth control medication.

1999 – Saparmurat Niyazov is proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan. You throw off the yoke of Soviet oppression and you STILL end up with a “president for life”? Duuuude! You’re doing it waaaaay wrong! Obama read the Cliff Notes, still had time to make his move, but then he figured that after a term or two of HILLARY! as president, the country’d be clamoring for HIS coronation.

2009 – Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura. The culprits? A group of radical Episcopalians OTHER Muslims who had differing opinions as to the correct attitude when slaughtering infidels. That’s part of the fun of the Religion of Peace – if there are no convenient infidels around, they’ll happily kill each other in large numbers.

2010 – Arab Spring: Popular protests begin in Algeria against the government. America’s Left, led by such luminaries of international diplomacy such as Hillary (Haauuugghh! Spit!) Clinton and Barack Obama, squeal with glee because everybody knows that as soon as the dictator’s gone, two thousand years of tribal conflicts will go away and everybody will sit in a circle and drink Cokes and sing ‘Kumbayah’, just like in Pakistan the year before.

1814 – War of 1812: The American schooner USS Carolina is destroyed. Freed of the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson’s makeshift fleet allows the British to move efficiently forward to the epic butt-kicking of the Battle of New Orleans.

1825 – First public railroad using a steam locomotive completed in England.

1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia. Those backward southerners.

1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins. A prelude to the Siege of Vicksburg, Outnumbered over two to one, the Confederacy delivers ten casualties for every one they suffer. The North has plenty of Yankees and plenty of factories and we know how the story ends.

1871 – World’s first cat show held at the Crystal Palace in London. “What’s that? A cat. And that? Another cat.” Actually, I’ve been to a few cat shows. Fascinating, but cats are not nearly as widely different in their breeds as dogs can be. Think of the difference between a shih-tzu and a Saint Bernard… Then think of the fun and games if you bred a playful housecat the size of, say, a Labrador Retriever…

1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier H?sh? becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world. Unlike MOST Japanese carriers, she survives WW II and is used to return Japanese troops to their homeland after the war.

1929 – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the “liquidation of the kulaks as a class” in an effort to spread socialism to the countryside. That order results in the deaths of somewhere between five and fifteen MILLION people. The number’s not important. It’s not like they’re gonna vote dimmocrat or something… Compared to Stalin, Hitler was bush-league.

1945 – The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations. Major functions include providing featherbeds for UN bureaucrats and funding third-World despots.

1972 – New North Korean constitution comes into effect. “Article 1: Kim is always right. Article 2: If Kim is wrong, see Article 1. Article 3: Succession: Next of Kim.”

1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship. That’s nothing. America was becoming a dictatorship after two hundred and thirty years as a democracy. I think Trump might’ve fixed some of that.

1985 – Proselytizing for the Religion of Peace, brave Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside Rome and Vienna airports.

1989 – The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country’s capital, Bucharest right after the dictator and his accomplice wife are executed.

2007 – Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis. Yawn! In Africa anything short of two wildebeests procreating triggers a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis, and I wonder if George Soros financed these like he did for “Pro-Hillary” riots here.

2008 – Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza. Palestinian ‘freedom fighters’ respond by hiding in bunkers located in schools, hospitals and nurseries.